The orthopaedic practice Südstadt Orthopäden has been offering a wide range of preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic services for 5 years. For Dr Dominik John and his team, the wellbeing of their patients comes first. For the practice, good patient care starts with the right communication channel.
In the past, communication mainly ran via email and phone. Today, the Südstadt Orthopäden team relies on WhatsApp. The messenger supports the practice staff in their daily communication with patients.
Why the Bonn orthopaedic practice chose Superchat
- WhatsApp as an additional communication channel for patients
- Taking pressure off the practice phone line and staff
- Simpler communication by sending templates
- Future use of campaigns to keep patients informed
Handling prescription requests quickly via Superchat
For Dr Dominik John, adding WhatsApp as an additional communication channel for patients was a logical step. After all, most people already use the messenger privately. So why not use it to communicate with their doctor's practice too?
When it comes to communicating via messenger, doctors are in a different position from other businesses. After all, this often involves very sensitive personal data.
GDPR and data protection are therefore a top priority. For Dr Dominik John and his team, secure and GDPR-compliant use of WhatsApp was a basic requirement for implementation. This is guaranteed by using the WhatsApp Business API.
Patients have responded positively, and WhatsApp has been well received as a communication channel. The number of enquiries arriving via WhatsApp is rising steadily, and not just among younger patients.
The practice most often receives requests for prescriptions, questions about appointments or general questions about the doctors and the services offered. Templates are particularly important in WhatsApp communication. They are used, for example, to let patients know that their prescription is ready for collection.
Asynchronous communication takes pressure off practice staff
Three users currently handle communication with patients. There is one inbox for each of the two locations in Superchat's messaging platform. This keeps communication organised and clear.
Dr Dominik John sees the biggest advantage over the phone in the asynchronous nature of the communication. When patients call, they expect immediate information and attention. But the right patient file or detailed information on specific issues is not always to hand. With enquiries via messenger, employees can focus on each patient and their reply.
WhatsApp also comes out ahead of email, because responses to WhatsApp messages are fast on both sides. On top of that, WhatsApp chats cannot get lost in the spam folder.
WhatsApp is the future of patient communication
For the Südstadt Orthopäden team, it is clear that messaging is an important part of patient communication. In future, Superchat will be used for more than just answering patient enquiries. Dr Dominik John wants to proactively inform patients about relevant and seasonal topics, and not via email.
WhatsApp is becoming increasingly popular among Südstadt Orthopäden's patients, and the number of messages is growing exponentially. That's why the team also sees huge potential in the WhatsApp newsletter.
